Gel Coat repair does not match original gel coat.

[Dani-Lu]

My bost had some minor gel coat damage from Sandy. A short part of the rub rail (2 or 3 screws) got ripped out on starboard side and caused a small amount of damage to the Gel coat. I had it repaired before the next season and the job looked great since I could not tell where it was fixed.

Unfortunately, at the end of last season, I noticed the repaired area is now visible because the gel coat is a slightly different color (maybe a little darker or yellowish) and no longer matches the original gel coat color.

I would think this should not happen and the fiber glass guy should redo the gel coat at no additional cost. What do you guys think?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Air O'Nautical]

I'm not a professional but, think....
There's almost no way to have the two different gel coats match over long term.
The sun fade will be different....best you can do is buff and shine it so, the glare will hide the different shades.

 

[BillK2632]

+ 1 I repaired a few spots on my boat a couple of years ago, even on my boat that has always been stored indoors it was not a perfect match (I used the spectrum kit). I can find the repairs, but it would be hard for anyone else to. My rule of thumb, on car and boat touch ups etc -- step back if it is not noticeable from 5ft leave it alone. I have found continuing to "work" on a repair to try and get it perfect almost always makes it worse. Just my opinion - and I am pretty darn picky.

Here is a repair I made 2yrs ago, picture was right after I buffed it out - two years later I have to look for it:

 

[lawndoctor]

I did a lot of gel coat work over the years on my previous Sea Ray, using the Spectrum patch kits for small repairs and the Spectrum liquid gel coat for larger projects. I found the color usually a perfect match, and occcasionally a good match, depending on the location and how much weather had gotten to it. I also found it helped to feather in the surrounding area by wet sanding, which helps bring the old areas back closer to the original color when new, which is what the Spectrum color is made to match. Where it wasn't a perfect match, over time it seemed to blend in to the point where I was the only person who would notice it.

I am a neurotic perfectionist by nature, so stuff like this is always tough for me to accept. One of my favorite sayings, taught to me by my wife, is "perfect is the enemy of good." My suggestion would be, unless the contrast is obvious to people other than you, from at least several feet away, and from multiple angles, I would not mess with it, and just see how it weathers over time. There's no rush, it will still be there if you eventually decide you can't live with it.

 

[fwebster]

My guess is the glass repair guy used either old gelcoat or "got close" with another gelcoat he happened to have on the shelf.

My boat is a 1996 and I had one exhaust port eventually crack last year. We fixed it at my annual haulout and it matches perfectly. So...it can be done, but our glass guy ordered a new can of gelcoat ordered by HIN#, he thins for spraying with the correct reducer (not acetone) and he did the repair on a day when the temperatures were over 70 degrees and the humidity was low.

Jeff, first try wet sanding the repair with 1800-2000 grit wet or dry paper, then buffing the entire area with an good compound followed by a good polish to see if there is a difference in the match. Then, if you are inclined to have the repair done over, keep in mind that the repaired area grows by a factor of about 1.5-2X when you reshoot gelcoat.

Hope that helps.......

 

[Gofirstclass]

My guess is the glass repair guy used either old gelcoat or "got close" with another gelcoat he happened to have on the shelf.

My boat is a 1996 and I had one exhaust port eventually crack last year. We fixed it at my annual haulout and it matches perfectly. So...it can be done, but our glass guy ordered a new can of gelcoat ordered by HIN#, he thins for spraying with the correct reducer (not acetone) and he did the repair on a day when the temperatures were over 70 degrees and the humidity was low.

Frank, you had better luck with your Spectrum kit than I did. I replaced my swim platform last summer and we ordered a kit from Spectrum (by HIN). It didn't match worth a darn. The man doing my platform was kind enough to take it all off (grinding and sanding). I called SR and got the paint number from them and reordered from Spectrum. Again, not a good match but we found that out before applying a lot of it.

The man doing the platform mixed his own batch and it was a perfect match so he went with that. I don't know what happened with the Spectrum kit, but it was very obviously not a good match.

 

[mnm99]

I had the same problem with spectrum. I guess they can get it to factory color, but as soon as the boat ages it never really matches. You can see in this picture where I did a repair. It doesn't match 100%, but I'm gonna leave it. My gouge was like yours.

 

[JVM225]

Unfortunately this probably isn't unusual since different finishes will age differently over time after exposure to the sun. I had a couple of spots on my old boat that became more visible after a few years too. Most wouldn't have noticed it on the finish but I knew it was there:

It's hard to ask the guy to do the repair for free just because after 4 years the color no longer matches exactly. Maybe if it were only a year or so old it would be a different story, but 4 years is kind of a long time.
Even if the guy does refinish it he is going to have to blend it out over a larger area than the initial repair he made 4 years ago so you may wind up even worse off and regretting it.
I would take Frank's advice with the wet sanding, compounding and polishing with good wool pads on a nice rotary machine. That should help lighten up the repaired area a decent amount and make it less noticeable.
If you don't have a good machine you are welcome to use my Makita for a day or so if you'd like. I've even got the wool pads for you to use. I remember you telling me that you are in the Anchorage. My dock property is in Lindenhurst on the Venice Canal and we keep my kids boat on it's trailer across the canal from my dock at one of my Uncle's properties so I'm down there a couple of times a week in the winter checking on the little boat anyway and would be happy to meet you down in the area to loan it to you.
Or, you could always pick it up at my house in Farmingdale if that works better.

 

[fwebster]

Frank, you had better luck with your Spectrum kit than I did. I replaced my swim platform last summer and we ordered a kit from Spectrum (by HIN). It didn't match worth a darn. The man doing my platform was kind enough to take it all off (grinding and sanding). I called SR and got the paint number from them and reordered from Spectrum. Again, not a good match but we found that out before applying a lot of it.

The man doing the platform mixed his own batch and it was a perfect match so he went with that. I don't know what happened with the Spectrum kit, but it was very obviously not a good match.

Read more carefully. I said the glass guy at the marina ordered a new can of gelcoat..by HIN # from Sea Ray.

I have never had anything approaching acceptable results with Spectrum products on Sea Ray, Whaler or Nautique boats and I don't use them.

 

[Boatingnut]

I have had some work done over the years, as we all have, and my glass guy matched the gelcoat dead on and you cannot see the repairs after 4 years or more. He would pry up a 1" by 1" square of gel coat next to the repair, have it read spectrophotometrically and had the gelcoat mixed to match. Perfect every time. The two biggest areas he did were around the exhaust ports and a section above the rub rail that had spider cracks from an aggressive dock maneuver, before I owned the boat. Up until I sold it, you could not see the repair. That was a 10" by 2' repair!

It can be done.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Read more carefully. I said the glass guy at the marina ordered a new can of gelcoat..by HIN # from Sea Ray.

I have never had anything approaching acceptable results with Spectrum products on Sea Ray, Whaler or Nautique boats and I don't use them.

Interesting. When I talked with the guy at SR Customer Service I told him what I was working on and what I needed and he never mentioned that SR sold the gelcoat. Makes me wonder why. :huh:

 

[fwebster]

Because they won't/can't sell direct. My marina is a service and warranty provider for Sea Ray so the gelcoat actually came from the dealer.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[Air O'Nautical]

I bought gelcoat for my boat through my dealer.
It was Spectrum with a SR sticker on the can.
I was surprised it was a perfect match without any tinting by me but, expect it to fade slightly differently.

 

[Dani-Lu]

My guess is the glass repair guy used either old gelcoat or "got close" with another gelcoat he happened to have on the shelf.

My boat is a 1996 and I had one exhaust port eventually crack last year. We fixed it at my annual haulout and it matches perfectly. So...it can be done, but our glass guy ordered a new can of gelcoat ordered by HIN#, he thins for spraying with the correct reducer (not acetone) and he did the repair on a day when the temperatures were over 70 degrees and the humidity was low.

Jeff, first try wet sanding the repair with 1800-2000 grit wet or dry paper, then buffing the entire area with an good compound followed by a good polish to see if there is a difference in the match. Then, if you are inclined to have the repair done over, keep in mind that the repaired area grows by a factor of about 1.5-2X when you reshoot gelcoat.

Hope that helps.......

Frank,

Sorry for the delay with my response. Work got in the way.

I will first speak to the owner of the marina where I winterize my boat. He had the work done by I am sure an outside vendor. Depending on what the owner says, I will ask him to have the detail guy do what you suggested and see how it looks after. I will try to make sure I am there for the work.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Dani-Lu]

Unfortunately this probably isn't unusual since different finishes will age differently over time after exposure to the sun. I had a couple of spots on my old boat that became more visible after a few years too. Most wouldn't have noticed it on the finish but I knew it was there:

It's hard to ask the guy to do the repair for free just because after 4 years the color no longer matches exactly. Maybe if it were only a year or so old it would be a different story, but 4 years is kind of a long time.
Even if the guy does refinish it he is going to have to blend it out over a larger area than the initial repair he made 4 years ago so you may wind up even worse off and regretting it.
I would take Frank's advice with the wet sanding, compounding and polishing with good wool pads on a nice rotary machine. That should help lighten up the repaired area a decent amount and make it less noticeable.
If you don't have a good machine you are welcome to use my Makita for a day or so if you'd like. I've even got the wool pads for you to use. I remember you telling me that you are in the Anchorage. My dock property is in Lindenhurst on the Venice Canal and we keep my kids boat on it's trailer across the canal from my dock at one of my Uncle's properties so I'm down there a couple of times a week in the winter checking on the little boat anyway and would be happy to meet you down in the area to loan it to you.
Or, you could always pick it up at my house in Farmingdale if that works better.

Thanks for the Makita offer, but I will leave this to the professionals. I am much better with a wrench in the ER. I am at Marinemax, not the Anchorage.

Did you find your 11 zincs yet?

Jeff

 

[JVM225]

Not yet. Hoping to take delivery and bring her home before Easter. The crazy weather has been slowing things down. The sales agreement included soda blasting, re barrier coating, and painting the bottom. The Marine Max store up there has been fantastic but they're at the mercy of an outside vendors schedule for the blasting.